Veolia - Water for the slums

To make the city of Nagpur a model for access to water, Veolia Water India and its local partner took charge of building a new water treatment plant, upgrading five existing plants and restoring the entire existing water distribution system.

Solution

It is a sizeable project. Managed by Veolia Water India and its local partner (whose joint subsidiary will manage the water service for the next 25 years), it consists of building a water treatment plant and rehabilitating or optimizing five existing treatment plants. It will also be necessary to restore and develop the whole of the existing supply network, consisting of 2,500 km of pipelines.

The benefit

The benefits are multiple and decisive. Having clean drinking water on tap 24/7 is quite simply life-changing. Within five years, the amount of water available per capita will be approximately 130 liters per day as opposed to around 90 liters now - sometimes barely 10 liters in the slums. Moreover, renovating the entire system will optimize production and conserve a finite resource in a country where it is already scarce.

At present, more than 50% of the water produced is lost due to leaks in the poor infrastructure. Finally and most importantly, there is an obvious public health benefit. It is estimated that 21% of infectious diseases in India are linked to unclean water.